Chuck Krug said he traveled from Baltimore to see President Trump speak at a heavy equipment company in North Fayette on Thursday because he supports Trump's economic policies, particularly the tax reform bill that the president signed into law last month.

"It's gonna help us grow. It's gonna help us support our growth both through employment and infrastructure," said Krug, who runs an industrial cleaning supplies company and is a business partner of George Koch, owner of North Fayette's H&K Equipment Co.

In a 20-minute speech at H&K Equipment, Trump credited the tax reform package with giving people pay raises in the form of lower income taxes and growing jobs through business tax cuts and increased demand for goods and services.

Trump said the tax plan will result in an income-tax cut of $2,000 a year for a family of four with a household income of $75,000. He said that would amount to a $2,000 raise for such families.

"At the center of America's resurgence are the massive tax cuts I just signed into law," Trump told a crowd of about 500 supporters. "The signs of America's comeback can be seen at companies like this one, which just had its most successful year in its 35-year history."

Trump said the company plans to make $2.7 million in capital investments. He credited the tax cuts for those investments, along with Apple's announcement this week that it plans to spend $350 billion on development in the United States over the next five years.

He also talked about low unemployment numbers among African Americans, Hispanics and women and said retirement accounts are surging in value.

"If we can keep it like this, we're going to win a lot of elections, that I can tell you," Trump said from a podium that stood in front of a large American flag and was flanked by pieces of heavy equipment that H&K sells and leases. "'It's the economy, stupid.' You ever hear that one? It's the economy, it is indeed."

Waiting for President Trump to speak on this stage flanked by heavy equipment at H&K Equipment in North Fayette. Trump to talk tax reform and his support for special election congressional candidate Rick Saccone. pic.twitter.com/bcBwYAUMDB

Trump recalled his election night win in Pennsylvania, a swing state that helped deliver the presidency. He also brought up Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" gaffe from the campaign.

"Who would have thought that was going to turn into a landslide," Trump said of his victory in the Electoral College, which came despite his trailing Clinton by 3 million votes nationally. "The deplorables, that was not a good phrase that she used."

Trump bucked speculation that he would stump for Rick Saccone during the speech. Saccone, a Republican state representative, is running against Democrat Conor Lamb in a special election race to replace former U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy. He has been an ardent supporter of Trump's.

After recognizing several of Pennsylvania's Republican members of Congress, Trump said, "And a person people are hearing more and more about, a real friend and a spectacular man … Rick Saccone. And Mrs. Saccone."

Trump didn't mention the special election race. And Saccone's wife, Yong, got more face time on the White House feed of the event than Saccone did. He appeared for a brief moment and was partially obstructed by a Secret Service agent.

Saccone was among those who greeted Trump when the president stepped off Air Force One at Pittsburgh International Airport. He traveled in the president's motorcade to H&K and back to the airport.

The president's visit provided a burst of enthusiasm for the campaign's supporters and volunteers and will likely bring broader attention to the campaign, Saccone spokesman Pat Geho said. Geho said that Saccone would work if elected to advance the president's agenda.

Trump hugged U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, and called him a friend. Barletta is seeking the GOP nomination to run against incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton.

Also in attendance were U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, Pat Meehan, Keith Rothfus, Bill Shuster and Glenn Thompson. Gary Cohn, the president's chief economic adviser, and Trump's daughter, Ivanka, also were on hand.

About 100 supporters, including families and college Young Republicans, stood in a fenced-off area on the tarmac and cheered Trump's arrival. Trump went over to greet the crowd briefly before getting in a black sport utility vehicle and departing for H&K about eight miles away. The presidential motorcade included nearly two dozen vehicles.

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our
Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent
via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.